EDITORIAL: Malpractice bill changes the field

Published: Friday, January 25, 2013 at 06:53 PM.

Republicans, who now control both houses of the General Assembly, are expected to shepherd the bill through to passage.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, nearly a quarter of a million people die each year due to medical negligence. A 2009 Congressional Budget Office report says that medical malpractice cost the country about $35 billion in that year alone or about 2 percent of the 2009 U.S. health-care budget.

This early step toward getting a handle on health-care costs is a good thing. Those costs must be reined in.

But practitioners should also have to abide by stringent oversight rules that are ruthlessly enforced in order to ensure high quality. It will take more than one change in the laws to fix the current health-care system.

The state Senate is taking up legislation that will push North Caroline into real tort reform — something that has long been near and dear to the hearts of medical practitioners and conservatives nationwide.

If passed and signed into law, Senate Bill 33, Medical Liability Reforms, will change both the formula used by juries to determine whether or not malpractice has occurred and the method in which damages are awarded.

Unsurprisingly, the bill has attracted its share of both supporters and detractors.

At the heart of the legislation is the definition of malpractice, which would change substantially. Under current law, malpractice is defined in some cases as a departure from the standard of care as reflected by those with the same or similar training, with some additional provisions. Plaintiffs were not necessarily required to prove that the provider or facility exercised negligence, acted wrongfully or were particularly negligent in the practice of their profession or when conducting their business.

Under the proposed bill, that will all change, putting a much greater burden of proof upon the plaintiff. Should it pass, additional changes will also take place involving the structure of malpractice trials. Instead of one trial in which a determination of the defendant’s guilt and resulting damage awards are determined, the bill provides for two phases in which guilt would first be determined, then the jury would address damages, similar to the way capital murder cases in this state are conducted.

Another change is in the amount of awards; the defendant would be limited to a $250,000 recovery due to pain and suffering and other conditions outside the actual physical damages. Physicians and those in medically related fields should welcome the damages cap since it should help reduce malpractice insurance premiums — an expense that many physicians say helps keep medical care priced at a premium. These changes will be retroactive to any cases filed in this state since Oct. 1, 2011; in addition to medical practitioners, it will also apply to hospitals and nursing homes.

The bill is the legislature’s attempt to address the growing number of dubious lawsuits filed in this state, which contribute to the rise in costs of medical care for Tar Heels and also clog the court system.

Republicans, who now control both houses of the General Assembly, are expected to shepherd the bill through to passage.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, nearly a quarter of a million people die each year due to medical negligence. A 2009 Congressional Budget Office report says that medical malpractice cost the country about $35 billion in that year alone or about 2 percent of the 2009 U.S. health-care budget.

This early step toward getting a handle on health-care costs is a good thing. Those costs must be reined in.

But practitioners should also have to abide by stringent oversight rules that are ruthlessly enforced in order to ensure high quality. It will take more than one change in the laws to fix the current health-care system.